Clearly no one expects the MTV Movie Awards, which announced its 2016 nominations this morning, to line up with the Oscars. MTV’s annual event is a place where teen-targeted movies like “Twilight” and “Transformers” triumph over movies that are far more widely seen as being “good” or “not horrible.”
With that in mind, let’s look at this year’s nods (the show is April 10, hosted by Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart) and celebrate both a few smart choices and a few that are just a bit too absurd to accept.
The good
Michael B. Jordan (“Creed”) is nominated for Best Male Performance
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Because we all know this should have happened at all the awards. MTV 1, Oscars 0.
“The Hunting Ground” is nominated for Best Documentary
It didn’t land an Oscar nomination, but the immensely troubling doc about campus sexual assault earns a nod at the MTV Movie Awards. Interesting. MTV 2, Oscars 0.
Charlize Theron (“Mad Max: Fury Road”) and Daisy Ridley (“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”) are nominated for Best Female Performance
They both easily gave the best performance in their movies, and this is the awards show where they can be recognized. Good.
Paul Rudd!
He landed a nomination for Best Hero, thanks to “Ant-Man,” a superhero movie that was better than many of the bigger movies last year, including “Avengers: Age of Ultron” (for which Chris Evans was nominated).
The bad
All the love for “Deadpool”
I know it’s a big hit. But nominating the unfunny, cliche-even-though-it-thinks-it’s-not-cliche superhero movie for not just Best Movie but Best Male Performance (Ryan Reynolds, who’s been better in so many other movies), Best Female Performance (Morena Baccarin, not asked to do a lot), Best Comedic Performance (Reynolds), Best Villain (Ed Skrein, not the best), Best Kiss (Reynolds and Baccarin) and Best Fight (Reynolds and Skrein)? That’s almost every category for which it’s eligible. Let’s not get carried away here, people.
Anything for “Fifty Shades of Grey”
I guess the movie was a Breakthrough Performance for Dakota Johnson in the sense that she starred in the movie and a lot of people talked about it. But her performance is only good in the sense that it’s much better than her costar Jamie Dornan, with whom she’s also nominated for Best Kiss. Sigh. I mean, ouch. I mean, uh, painful but intriguing?
Where’s “Spotlight”?
So you create a category called True Story but use it to nominate “Concussion” and “Joy” but not “Spotlight,” the Best Picture-winning true story that should not be ignored by anyone? That’s awful. At least “The Big Short” is in there.
Say no to “Pitch Perfect 2”
Here’s another one that was a huge earner, enough to prompt the making of “Pitch Perfect 3.” But you can’t nominate Anna Kendrick for Best Female Performance when it’s blatantly obvious how disengaged the fantastic actress was in the sequel. And Rebel Wilson for Best Comedic Performance when she’s been repeating herself for years at this point (mostly a fault of the roles, not her)? Of all the nominations for the movie, Best Kiss (Wilson and Adam Devine) might be the easiest to accept.
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